WARNING!!!! This post will contain some graphic pictures of Matt at work. Stop reading now if you have a queasy stomach and come back another day for more posts on Caylee :)
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So... last night, Matt came home briefly and asked if I could be ready in about 30 minutes to go with him on a farm call. I said sure, but asked why. He said he needed my help, possibly... NO WAY! I dislike being too close to horses very much. They make me nervous and I'm so afraid they'll kick. However, he really needed to get a particular mare bred, and wasn't sure if the guy would be there. Well... off we went, me PRAYING the entire way that someone else would be there.
The man was there. WHEW! So... I went about taking pics. I forgot to bring my new camera, so these are just iphone pics, but here ya go....
The purpose of the evening was to breed a mare. Many of the mares he works with up here are thoroughbred horses which means you just have to stand around and make sure the stud does what he needs to do. Thoroughbred breeding has to be live, if you get my drift.
However, he has some clients that are not thoroughbreds and they have sperm shipped in from all over that they have to insert themselves into the mare to breed. This was the case tonight.
Matt prepping for the horse.... notice the very large glove he MUST use.
Getting out his supplies...
SO GROSS! But all part of feeling the uterus and making sure she is ready to be bred. This part is important because he told me that horses have to be bred 12 hours before ovulation or 6 hours after ovulation. It's so time specific. They spend many, many days checking mares and making sure they are ready before wasting perfectly good shipped sperm. (Or in the case of thoroughbreds, the risk of wasting the stud's time at the breeding shed and not allowing a mare who is ready to have that spot)
**SIDENOTE: In thoroughbreds, you have to sign your mare up for a spot in the breeding shed. Good studs will breed to mares 3-4 times a day, 7 days a week for 5 months... INSANE! If the vet palpates the mare and she is not ready, you have to give up your spot and try to move the schedule around. This is all very time consuming because of the special timing it takes to get a horse bred.
Once inside... looking at the ultrasound to measure and make sure she's ready. And yep... we looked at Caylee with that same ultrasound! But don't worry, it was clean and only externally used of course!
The container that has the frozen sperm.
Unfreezing the sperm and putting it in a tube to be inserted.
Another glove.. a long tube... Also notice the baby horse next to the big horse... she just had that baby a few weeks back.
Back in, making sure to get the exact spot where to put the sperm for better chance of breeding.
Inserting the sperm....
Checking the sperm count and seeing if he thinks it will actually be successful. This one could go either way, so he'll check the mare in 14 days and know whether she is pregnant or not. If not, they have to start all over!
So... this is where my sweet, hard-working husband has been for 5 months. Palpating TONS of mares, breeding the ones the are ready and re-palpating them to determine if they were successful. Due to the specific timing that horses need to be bred, there have been MANY early morning palpations and breedings and quite a few late night or middle of the night breedings. We'll be glad when breeding season is over!! :) I'm just RELIEVED that I did not have to help last night.... that is NOT my calling at all!
Funny Story: One of the vets Matt works with has a 3 year old son. They also own horses that needed bred this year. So the boy went out with his dad and another vet to do exactly what you have seen Matt do above. The dad went back to work and by the time he got home his 3 year old had found a glove and was walking around to anyone coming in the house trying to do the same thing!! Watch your back when you enter that house... literally!
On another note, many of the vet kids tell stories in school about what their dad does. One particular teacher got very angry at the little girl and called her parents. They backed up the little girl, but said they'd explain to her not to share so much.... I see this in our future with Caylee.... so many things Matt talks about is vet related and medically correct terminology.... oh my!
Well, there you go, for any out there wondering what "breeding season" means :)
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